Saturday 17th March saw the 3rd and final leg of 2018’s Winter League take place on the Cam, with a number of Cantabs crews coming away with pots after consistently strong performances. After milder weather in the days before, Saturday saw a return of some bad weather meaning that younger juniors were unfortunately not allowed to race, whilst the racing crews battled white horses on the river and a brutal cross-tail wind.
As they were leading the W8+ event by a considerable distance, the Senior Women’s Squad created some of their own rivalry by racing as two matched 8s, rather than ranking their crews. The race was hard-fought, with the faster crew finishing 8 seconds ahead of their counterparts. This saw Cantabs finish the league in 30:43.4 and 32:01.4, over 3 minutes ahead of the 3rd placed City of Cambridge W1. The Intermediate Women’s Squad improved on their times from the previous 2 legs to finish as the 9th fastest W8+ of the 20 which raced in all 3 legs.
There was also a win for the Senior Women in the W4+, with athletes from the 8+ doubling up to race again. Their time of 11:31.9 was the 2nd fastest ever recorded at Winter League, with the fastest time being set in 2006 by another Cantabs crew when the course was slightly shorter.
The fastest M1x of the day was Jimmy Adams, who finished the course in 11:07.5, to win the series by 1 minute 50 seconds ahead of the 2nd placed sculler from Cambridge 99. Unfortunately Georgie Plunkett had to scratch due to injury, missing out on an opportunity to win the W1x having previously been over 2 minutes faster than the 2nd placed W1x after the first 2 legs. Jack Goode put in a good performance to finish as 3rd fastest M1x. Andrew Morley had a good race in the MasCD event, and finished 2nd overall in the series.
The J18 girls had a good race to win W.J18.4x, also finishing as the fastest W4x in the league. The Hills Road B crew won the NOV.8+ event overall, 42 seconds ahead of another Cantabs crew, the Poachers, who finished 2nd. The junior girls also had a good race in their crew, winning the W.NOV.8+ overall by 1 minute 26 seconds ahead of City of Cambridge.
The Senior Men’s Squad produced a good time of 9:15.5 in the 8+, only 1 second behind Cambridge 99, reflecting improvements they have made since racing at the Head of the River 2 weeks ago. The Intermediate Men’s Squad had a good race in the M8+, making big improvements on the previous leg, seeing their time as the 2nd fastest in the Club B event, and 3rd overall for the series.
Full results can be found here.
